


there's something in there

by sodakooh



Series: Jaspvid Stuff! [1]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 03:52:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12290625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodakooh/pseuds/sodakooh
Summary: there's something in there.there's something in the forest, watching, observing.there's something inside of max--a different, hidden side.there's something else inside of max, a strange entity; a dangerous one; a curious one; a longing one.





	1. there's something in the forest

It all started out as some kind of joke. Nikki and Max argued back and forth about whether or not ghosts were real, and Nikki desperately wanted to prove her point. She believed strongly that they were real, and that there were some on Spooky Island.

 

"Shut _up_ , Nikki. We've been over this," Max grumbled irritably. "The only scary thing about Spooky Island was how many old people are still into kinky shit like that."

 

Nikki let out a long groan. "Max, open your eyes! Look around you! The ghosts are _real_ , and they're all on Spooky Island! Did you feel the chills as we stepped onto their turf?" she asked, eyes glittering with excitement at the memory.

 

_"No."_  Max replied, and Neil sighed.

 

"Alright, alright, I know you two won't stop arguing about this for an eternity, and even though there has not been any scientific proof that ghosts exist, I'm willing to do something to prove at least one of you wrong because it's getting late and I want to relax." 

 

With a cocky snort, Max raised a brow. "Oh yeah? And what's that?"

 

 

 

 

Neither Max nor Nikki expected the following from Neil.

 

 

 

 

Roughly a half hour later, Neil had whipped out a wooden Ouija board. Max and Nikki stared at it, both confused.

 

 

"What... is that?" Nikki asked, crinkling her nose.

 

Neil grimaced. "It's a Ouija board. It's a tool that apparently helps us _"talk to the dead"_ or whatever," he explained, waving his arm around.

 

Max snorted. "I'm out."

 

Nikki got up, glaring at him with a sly grin. "Why? Because you know with this... this Luigi board, I'll prove to you that ghosts _do_  exist?"

 

"It's... actually called a Ouij--"

 

"No! It's because this is fucking stupid! This is just a child's game and the entire thing is probably a load of horse crap!" Max shouted, then crossed his arms over his chest. 

 

"'Shh, Max! David and Gwen are going to hear us!" Nikki shouted in a whisper.

 

Neil was so darn close from losing his chill. He got up, grabbed both Nikki and Max, and began to sort-of-drag them off with his noodle-like arms.

 

 

 

 

After small bickering sessions and endless twitching from Neil's right eye, the trio arrived at the edge of Spooky Island. They tied their boat to some rock to keep it from drifting away, then began to walk deeper into the forest. Nikki was becoming visibly nervous, while Max and Neil were pokerfaced.

 

"Neil, how much farther?" Nikki asked from behind Max, her arms wrapped around her as what she thought of as a protection mechanism against the ghosts.

 

"Fine, here's good enough," Neil sighed, and the three players sat down.

 

"Okay, some things you should know are that we can't disrespect the ghost, we have to keep our hands on the planchette and we _have_  to say goodbye at the end," Neil said, looking at Max for the first rule.

 

"W-Wait, why do we have to say goodbye?" Nikki then questioned, getting more and more nervous by the second.

 

"Apparently, if you don't say goodbye, the spirit remains in our world and attached to the Ouija Board," Neil answered, showing that he had done his research.

 

Max let out a long groan. "Let's just get this stupid thing done with, okay?"

 

The three friends put their fingers on the planchette, moving it around in a circle to warm it up.

 

"Are there any spirits here who would like to communicate with us..?" Neil asked, almost hesitant.

 

Almost.

 

After a beat, Max sighed with a smirk. "See? It doesn't work. Now let's just go back to--"

 

Just as that was said, the planchette began to move. It slowly slithered over to yes, though the small hole was over half of the word yes.

 

Neil and Nikki went rigid, and Max muttered a small, "Nikki, stop moving the fucking planchette."

 

Nikki shook her head. "I'm... I'm not, Max..."

 

The planchette began to move once again.

 

_H-R-L-L-I_

 

"Hr... Hello...?" Max mumbled, and Nikki grinned.

 

"Hello Mr. Spirit! What's your name?" she asked in a peppy voice.

 

_K-A-D-P-E-R_

 

"Ah... okay, then, it's nice to meet you!" Nikki chirped.

 

Neil had finally shaken from his shocked state, and he decided to ask a question.

 

"Uh... how did you die?"

 

_No._

 

"So... you can't answer it?"

 

_No._

 

"Huh..." Neil murmured.

 

Nikki looked over at Max and wiggled her eyebrows. "Hey Maaaaax, you should try asking Kadper a question!"

 

Max had been both confused by how this was possible and angry because Nikki seemed to be enjoying his defeat. Of course, to "participate" and "be a good friend", Max asked a question.

 

"Okay, uh... how are you?" he asked, to which Nikki began complaining about how it wasn't good enough.

 

_T-U-B-U-L-A-R_

 

Max was speechless. It... actually answered?

 

"OKAY OKAY MY TURN AGAIN!" Nikki shouted, then asked, "Did you grow up here or come here often--here, as in Lake Lilac?"

 

_C-A-M-B-E-L-L_

 

Nikki thought, then it clicked in her mind. She made a loud gasp, and she shouted, "Oh my god you went to Camp Campbell?!"

 

_Yes._

 

"How... old are you?" Neil then asked, and the planchette moved.

 

_1-3_

 

"Thirteen... oh gosh, you're--you were so young,” Nikki murmured sadly. “I’m sorry.”

 

Neil paused to listen around them. “Do... do you guys hear something..?” he asked, becoming visibly nervous.

 

The three friends went silent, listening to a nearby rustling noise. It grew louder and louder, and Max cursed, “what the fuck is that?” under his breath.

 

Before anyone could utter another word, David popped out, and visibly upset nonetheless.

 

“Kids, what on _earth_ are you doing here?” he asked, a disappointed tone to his voice.

 

“Uh... nothing?” Nikki answered.

 

“You should not be sneaking out late at night like this. Come on, we’re going back to camp right now.”

 

Neil quickly stuffed his board into his bag so that David wouldn’t ask any more questions, then jogged off to follow the irritated counsellor.

 

A few feet away, a certain a certain sage-haired ghost floated, eyes wide and in shock.

 

_They didn’t say goodbye._

 

_The friendly ghost was now connected to that Ouija board._

 

_He could finally leave the island._

 


	2. there's something inside max

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> max is having a few doubts about what happened, so he decides to test it out for himself.

“Nikki, please,” David sighed, rubbing his temple.

 

“But David, there’s something in the forest! Some really spooooky stuff!! I’m telling you!” she shouted, and Neil joined in from behind.

 

“Y-Yeah... we were, uh... trying to see if they were real or not and we all got a strange feeling at the same time,” Neil added, and Nikki turned to him.

 

“...No, we were using the Ou—ACK!”

 

Neil slapped a hand over Nikki’s mouth, then leaned in. “Shh. Don’t tell David about the Ouija board.”

 

A muffled why came from Nikki.

 

“I don’t know how he’d react to it...” Neil explained then pulled away, leaving Nikki a little baffled

 

Max had been silent the rest of the way, as Neil, Nikki, and David all spoke to each other.

 

He was confused and shocked. He clearly wasn’t moving the planchette by himself, so maybe Nikki was lying and /she/ was the one doing it.

 

Max huffed to himself. He didn’t have a good feeling about that.

 

Meanwhile, the spirit floated above them, deep in thought.

 

<Because of this, I can finally get off the island... Holy shniveys...> he thought, and smiled. <Maybe I can go and... explore. I’m sure the world has changed in 15 years.>

 

 

 

After arriving at the camp, Neil and Nikki were both exhausted, so the three of them slugged back to their tent.

 

Max joined, but as he laid down onto the cot, he couldn’t seem to close his eyes. He got the strange feeling that he was being watched.

 

 _That was horse crap. Nikki was moving the planchette,_ he thought bitterly, turning onto his side. _Ghosts aren’t real._

 

Something feel inside him sparked and Max had a moment of realization.

 

_Fuck it. I’ll find out myself._

 

Stealthily, Max crept across the tent and into Neil’s bag, slowly pulling out the ouija board. He took it and the planchette, then left the tent and headed towards the docks—a place where he could speak without being heard by David, or Gwen, or Neil.

 

Max tried to remember what Neil had done when they started, and moved the planchette around. “Uh... are there any spirits here?” he asked, looking around.

 

Immediately, the planchette moved.

 

_H-O-W-D-Y_

 

Max gasped loudly. He definitely wasn’t moving it, and there was no Neil or Nikki to mess with it.

 

Was it... real?

 

“Um... are you real?”

 

_Yes._

 

 _Oh, fucking amazing question,_ Max thought, then tried to think of another question to ask.

 

“Listen... I don’t believe in ghosts... and uh, I’m just... really on the fence right now so, can you just—fuck, I don’t know—give me a sign that you’re really here?”

 

Max looked around, disappointed. There was no sign of anything happening, and he looked at the board.

 

“Guess not,” he murmured, but a voice behind him made a shiver run down his spine.

 

“How about this, blood?”

 

Max turned around slowly, eyes wide and body frozen. He looked up, and saw a young boy with green hair and bright blue eyes peering down at him. A grin was spread across his face, and he stuffed his hands into his navy blue pockets.

 

“Uh... you okay there home scout?” the floating figure asked, and Max nodded.

 

“Y... Yeah.” His eyes stayed locked on the boy, and he noticed that his eyes seemed to be glowing ever so slightly. “Are you... Kadper?”

 

The boy sighed. “It’s Jasper. I had a hard time using that board at first.” He chuckled, scratching his cheek.

 

Suddenly, Max realized who he was looking at. “Wait a second!!” he screeched. “You’re the kid from Spooky Island! And the kinky old people sex!!”

 

Jasper nodded. “Yep! That’s me!”

 

Max was completely dumbfounded. “But... But we saw you. You were there. How are you..?”

 

Jasper shrugged, then floated to the ground where he sat. It was then that Max realized he didn’t have a shadow, and he found himself wondering if Jasper had one back then. “Well, I can show myself for a little while each day, but it drains my energy and it’s almost... painful,” he explained. “So I figured I might as well prove that ghosts _do_ exist!”

 

Max was finally speechless. “L-Listen, uh... I should be getting back to camp. David might see me, and I don’t want to get in any additional trouble—“

 

Jasper flew closer to Max, getting real close to his face. “Wait! _David_... as in, really likes the woods, plays the guitar..?” he asked, to which Max nodded.

 

“Yeah—really fucking annoying too. He’s the counsellor. Why, you know him?” Max asked, and Jasper nodded vigorously.

 

Jasper paused for a bit, then a small, sinister glint shine in his eyes. “I’m... sorry for what I’m about to do, Max.”

 

Max pulled back a little, panic all over his face. “What? What do you mean?!”

 

Jasper reached forward and put his hand onto Max’s forehead before the boy could react, and almost instantly there was a sharp pain before everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was so short a c K


	3. there's something in the goop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> max seems to be behaving strangely, and neil picks up on it.

<Hey! Wake up!>

<Get up, you ghost piece of shit!>

<Oh my fucking god if you don't wake the fuck up right now, I will kill you!>

A small groan escaped the boy's mouth, and he slowly blinked to rid himself of the blurriness in his eyes.

_ What... happened?  _

<You're a fucking asshole! Get out right now!> a voice shouted from somewhere above him, and he slowly looked at his hands.

"Hold the phone..."

He touched his face.

"It..."

He touched his hair.

<Jasper, are you fucking ignoring me?!>

"It worked! Holy shniveys!" Jasper shouted, standing up and wobbling a little. He wasn't used to Max's form, so he held out his hands in front of him to keep himself steady.

<Oh my god can you even hear me?> Max asked, eyes wide with panic. He did  _ not  _ want to stay a ghost forever.

Jasper made a small snorting sound. “Sure I can hear you, Max. You’re all I can hear right now.”

<Give me back my body!> Max shouted, knuckles turning white from them being clenched so hard.

Jasper flinched a little bit, then smiled nervously. "No-can-do, homie. I’ve got… a few things to do,” he said, removing his blue hoodie to reveal his yellow camper shirt underneath. Jasper tied it around his waist, then put his hands on his hips before continuing, “but I’ll give you back your body in tip-top shape!”

Max was practically fuming. <Why are you taking off my clothes?!> he screeched, to which Jasper simply laughed at.

“It’s so much nicer to feel the breeze again, and to be able to take in the fresh air!” Jasper beamed, and Max grumbled.

<Listen to me, you fucking ghost roadkill piece of crap, you are in  _ my _ body so you have to listen to me, got that?> Max began, floating down to where Jasper stood. It was really creepy to be speaking to what seemed like an exact replica of himself--the only difference was that “Max” now had bright blue eyes. <If you don’t want to cause complete panic in the camp, you need to play the part.>

Jasper arched a brow. “Whaddya mean, Max?” he asked.

“Just--swear a lot, and don’t give a crap about anything?” Max said unsurely, an angry and frustrated undertone to his words. Honestly, he didn’t know how to explain his behaviour, but he remembered some things his parents had told him and tried to parrot them; perhaps it would’ve given Jasper a better understanding of his personality..?

Before Max had the time to tell Jasper about the description further, a familiar voice came from nearby.

“Ah, there you are, Max!” called Nikki as she ran down to him, followed by Neil.

“We were looking for you! I noticed early this morning that you weren’t in the tent, and I got worried because you  _ never _ get out earlier than me,” Neil said, huffing as he bent over to catch his breath.

Jasper tensed. “Yeah! That’s me; sleep-in Max!” he said, grinning nervously. He then remembered what Max had just told him about swearing, so he corrected, “ _ dang  _ sleep-in Max..!”

Nikki snorted, then took Jasper’s bare wrist. “Come on! I heard the Quartermaster didn’t make that weird goop for breakfast! Maybe it’s something good!” she shouted, dragging Jasper as she ran back to the camp. Neil tried to keep up, complaining about how they had just ran and now they were running again.

What neither Neil nor Nikki knew, however, was that the single touch he got from Nikki--the little grabbing of the wrist--was enough to make Jasper tear up.

He missed it. He missed physical touch so much. He missed everything from the warmth of another person’s body, the feeling of the sun on his skin, and everything in between.

Of course, he had to keep it together, so Jasper simply sniffled and continued on his way.

Max floated above Neil, angered and frustrated. “Neil! Help me! That ghost of a bitch is in my body!” he shouted, flailing his arms around. Jasper turned back to Max as he did this and shook his head. He couldn’t start speaking because to everyone else, it would seem as though he were speaking to himself.

Jasper wasn’t heartless enough to make Max look crazy.

 

* * *

 

Once the trio made it back to camp, Jasper looked at everything in awe. The entire place looked exactly the same as when he was a camper there which both soothed him and terrified him.

If that were so, was Campbell still here, and in charge no less?

Finally, Jasper spoke up. “Hey, uh, where’s Davey?” he asked, and Max facepalmed himself so hard that if he were alive and still felt pain, he would’ve shouted.

Neil looked at Jasper, arching a brow. “Davey? You mean David?” he asked.

<Oh, you’ve  _ fucked up _ now!> Max shouted, and Jasper simply nodded slowly.

“Yeah, David! I want to talk to him!” Jasper reiterated

Nikki turned to Jasper, confused as well. “Pfft, you never want to see David. Just the other day you told us you’d kill yourself before you voluntarily went to see him.”

Max floated down in front of Jasper and tried grabbing his shoulders, however his hands just phased through him. <Listen to me! If you don’t want to screw this up, repeat after me: I need to ask him where he keeps his matches. I’m planning something.>

Jasper hesitantly repeated what Max told him, and Nikki seemed to back off. “Fine, fine, but let’s go get food before you start with whatever it is you’re planning!”

Inside the Mess Hall, Jasper sat between Nikki and Neil. He looked at the strange, different coloured goop on the three kids’ dishes, and Nikki groaned.

“Wow, so it’s just… coloured differently?” she asked, not expecting an answer. Nikki deflated like a balloon, but still began to eat it as a rabid dog would fresh meat.

Jasper began to eat it too. He hadn’t actually eaten anything in years since he was a) never hungry and b) didn’t have the physical body to eat anything. Now that he was “renting” Max’s body, he made sure to appreciate the grumble of Max’s hungry stomach and the feeling of the strangely-tasting food on his pallet.

“Woah, this is pretty rad!” Jasper said, grinning. In his defense, anything tasted amazing after so many years of nothing.

Neil had been silently observing Jasper the entire time, and this is the point where he finally realized something. “Nikki… can I, uh, talk to you for a second?”

Nikki, mouth full of goop, nodded and then got up. The two walked a few feet away from Jasper before Nikki pipped up.

“What’s up, Science Man?” she asked, food still in her mouth.

Neil glanced at Jasper, then at Nikki. He took a breath before uttering, “There’s something wrong with Max.”

**Author's Note:**

> this was also posted on the Camp Camp Amino
> 
> so if you see it, its me ;)


End file.
